


Beginning Of The End

by Quazie89



Category: Cars (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 08:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18178541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quazie89/pseuds/Quazie89
Summary: Takes place before Ghosts, and serves as a prologue to that story. This story shows how Lightning got lost and how my Cars OC, Buster, found him in Ghosts, another one of my Cars Fan Fics.





	Beginning Of The End

Hello, everybody! I have another Cars story for you today. It features the return of Buster, one of my oldest characters and my first Cars OC, and it tells how Buster found about the old cars graveyard he finds Ghosts and shows how Lightning got lost there. It also explains why Buster wanted to be a mechanic in the first place, so it answers a lot of questions! He doesn't play as big of a part as he did in the other stories, though, and he only shows up at the main end. I just wanted to revisit Buster. It had been awhile since I had written anything and I was starting to miss him. This story takes place before Ghosts. I hope you enjoy the story!

Sally woke up, gasping, having been disturbed from her already fretful sleep by the unsettling; violent sound of Lightning's coughing.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, pressing herself up against her side in order to hold him up, seeing his failing, weakening body sinking ever lower to the ground. "Are you all right, honey?" she asked, giving him a light, yet heartfelt kiss on the fender.

Once the coughing fit had passed, Lightning gave her a long-suffering look, at that moment looking so old and feeble, she became very afraid. "Y-Y-Yeah, I-I-I'll be fine," he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. "I just need some water."

"All right, honey, don't worry," Sally said, and pulled away from him with great reluctance, not wanting to leave him alone, but not wanting him to die of thirst, either. "I'll go get you some." She drove out of the cone and didn't look back, knowing she wouldn't be able to leave if she did.

Finding herself outside seconds later, Sally came to a stop in the parking lot of the Cozy Cone, taking a deep shuddering breath.

It had been so hard…seeing Lightning like that. She almost felt glad to be out of there, but immediately felt guilty harboring such unkind thoughts about her husband, and banished them as quickly as she could from her turbulent mind as soon as they had entered it, searching it for something that would help her make sense of all of this, trying to pinpoint the exact moment in her memory when everything had gone so wrong.

Things used to not be this way. Lightning used to be a happy, carefree car. She didn't know when things had started to get so bad. She knew it hadn't been the wreck, no matter how much she wanted to blame his current, cantankerous attitude on the horrendous accident that had almost destroyed his career and his life. No, the wreck had been years ago, and he had been slowing down well before then.

No, for her, it had all started when Lightning forgot their anniversary.

It might've been before that. Sally wasn't was for sure, but things started getting bad around their anniversary, when she had asked him if he knew it was coming up, and all he could do was stammer a few low, inaudible words. She knew something had been wrong then. She just hadn't known what at the time.

At first she suspected old timers or dementia, both were considered to be similar by many in and out of the medical field and pointed to signs of memory loss, which she feared Lightning was suffering from. It couldn't have been anything else, but she didn't know for sure. She would like to have a complete diagnoses, but Radiator Springs hadn't had an official town Doctor ever since Doc Hudson, their last one, had passed away, and there wasn't another doctor for miles around. The nearest one was in a city hours away. Lightning would never survive the ride. More than ever she found herself wishing Doc was there, but she knew it was a futile wish, one that could never be fulfilled. Doc had been dead for several years now and was never coming back. He was buried up on a small hill overlooking Radiator Springs. Someday Sally hoped she and Lightning could be buried there as well.

She felt slightly embarrassed, when she heard a choked sob escape her, and sniffed furiously, blinking the tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of Lightning dying. She didn't know what she would do without Lightning. He was her love, rock, and well…everything. He couldn't imagine her life without him, but she knew his day was coming soon, too, and hers. Neither one of them were exactly spring chickens anymore. They were both getting up there in years. It was only a matter of time before they bit the dust.

"Why, hello, there, Miss. Sally! Why do you look so sad?"

Sally jumped up at the sound of the unexpected, but familiar sound of the welcoming voice, and swerved around to face it, knowing it could only belong to one vehicle, a tow truck to be exact. "Oh, n-n-nothing, I'm just worrying over silly stuff," she said, stammering, surprised, but glad to see him. "W-W-What are you doing here?"

"Aw, nothin' much, really," Mater said, flashing his wide, bucktoothed grin at her. "Ah just came to see if my good ol' buddy Lightning McQueen wanted to go Tractor Tippin'!"

Sally's eyes winded in horror. "Oh, no, I'm sorry Mater, but Lightning can't," she said, shaking her hood, and gave him a grateful, sympathetic, look, wishing she could give him the answer he wanted to hear but knowing she couldn't.

Lightning was in no shape to go tractor tipping. Besides dealing with memory loss, he had developed a pretty nasty cough that left him paralyzed sometimes on days when it got real bad. She wanted to find out what was causing that, too, but she was afraid it might be something far worse than memory loss. "I-I-I'm sorry, Mater, but Lightning's been pretty sick lately, and I don't think he'll feel like going Tractor Tripping."

For a brief moment, and a brief moment only, but it had been there long enough for Sally to see it, a race flicker of concern and fear flashed across Mater's grill, only to vanish seconds later, to be replaced by his usual friendly grin. "Naw, my good ol' buddy Lightning McQueen always feels like goin' Tractor Tippin'," he said, and despite her protests, which were all in vain, he drove right by her and into the cone, his rusty, clanky body bouncing above the ground in his excitement. "I'll go ask him righ' now!"

Sighing, Sally turned to watch him drive into the cone, feeling helpless, and shook her hood. She felt much too tired, and much too old, to go chasing after Mater, so she just slowly turned and began to drive away, not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation and appear rude. All she could do was hope Lightning wouldn't go running off to go to Tractor Tippin' with Mater, though, knowing her husband, she had a feeling he more than likely would. She shook her hood, wondering what she was going to do with Lightning and his long-time friend.

Already half-asleep when Sally arrived, Lightning had begun to feel his heavy-lidded eyes threaten to flutter shut when Mater drove in, and he jerked himself awake. "H-H-Hello, Mater," he said, stammering a little, finding it hard to talk with his dry mouth, and hoped Sally would remember to bring him back some water. "What do you want?" He groaned, annoyed by how everybody kept on barging in and disturbing him from his uneasy rest, trying to blink the blurriness out of his still groggy gaze and bring Mater back into focus.

Mater's cheerful disposition vanished, and the smile fell from his grill, which was an unusual and unsettling sight to see. "Why, I was just wanting to go Tractor Tippin' and thought I would ask my greatest buddy in the whole wide world to go with me," he said, giving Lightning a hopeful, almost pleading, puppy-dog like look.

Lightning softened the hardened expression on his grill. "Oh, all right," he said, feeling guilty for the way he had talked to Mater. The friendly, always helpful tow truck hadn't deserved such treatment. "I'll go Tractor Tippin' with you." He yawned, starting to drive out of the cone, and gave Mater a sleepy smile. "I'll be glad to get out of that old cone anyways." He shook his hood, trying to clear muddled thoughts. "It'll feel good to stretch these old, creaky tires again." He shook one of the tires in question, and winced when he felt it give a sharp twinge, setting it back on the ground again. He didn't want to risk spraining one of his axles before he even had a chance to get out.

Mater laughed. "Just don't strain them too much, buddy," he said, and drove as fast as his slowly dying, puttering engine would allow, which wasn't fast at all, but he put in his effort, and Lightning admired him for it. "I don't want ya to break one!"

"Hey!" Lightning exclaimed in protest, but smiled, shaking his hood fondly, and drove after his friend.

 

After what seemed like hours, at the painstakingly slow speed they were going, they finally arrived at the field where Frank guarded the herd of stupid, cow-like tractors with intense watchfulness, and sometimes, Lightning thought, even extreme jealously and hate, if the way he chased them down every time they caught him in his field was anything to judge him by, and Lightning thought it was. Both of them were completely out of breath and exhausted, but, oddly enough, despite everything, happy.

"All right', let's us go tip us over some tractors," Mater said, and slowly crept through the grass toward the nearest tractor, the way they used to all the time, so very long now, it seemed, and made as soft snicker, revving up his engine.

Lightning looked up at the tractor, which let out a long, drawn-out moo, which could be heard all over Radiator Springs, and fell over. Beginning to sputter with laughter, Lightning glanced over at Mater, and his infamous, crooked, lopsided grin crossed his grill for the first time in a long time. "All right, it's my turn now," he said, and drove up to another tractor not too far away from the other one, and revved up his own engine. Almost an instant later, the tractor tipped over in the very same fashion the other tractor had and landed on the ground. Lightning couldn't help but burst into laughter at the comical sight. "There we go!"

"See, buddy, I told ya this would be fun," Mater said, pulling up Lightning's side, and grinned at him. "Aren't ya glad ya came now?"

"Yeah," Lightning said, and nodded his hood, surprised to realize it was the truth. "I'am." For the first time in a long time, he had felt like a young car again, and it had felt great. For a brief time, all of the aches and pains that had come with old age had been forgotten and he was able to forget all of his worries and fears, and enjoy life to the fullest.

That happiness, however, was shortly lived, as Lightning knew it would be, as the harsh, cruel realty of the world came crashing back down on them when they heard something very large thundering through the forest, making it's away toward them, and they knew at once who it was.

Lightning and Mater looked at each other.

"FRANK!" they shouted in unison, and began to speed away from the field, hearing trees come crashing down as Frank emerged from the forest, bearing down on them.

They drove and drove for hours, not stopping, until, sometime later, Lightning slowed down at the edge of a deserted highway miles outside of town and hit his breaks, seeing smoke rise up from underneath his tires and fearing his engine would overheat. "Where are we?" he asked, turning around to look at at Mater, his eyes widening in horror when he realized Mater was no longer with him. "Mater?" He began to panic, trying to take a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, hoping his friend hadn't gotten far. They must've gotten separated somewhere down the road and Mater had fallen behind. If that had happened, there was probably a pretty good chance he would never see his friend again, because he had no idea where he was, or how he had gotten here, and he had no way of knowing how to get back home.

Having never been so scared in his entire life, he told himself to calm down and not to panic, that Mater couldn't be far and he could take care of himself. Lightning snorted at this thought, knowing how false it was and that it was only wishful thinking. Who was he kidding? He knew Mater couldn't take care of himself. They were both bumbling, senile, old idiots who couldn't take of themselves. Sally was right. They should've listened to her and stayed home, but it was too late now. There was no turning back, and he would probably never see Sally again, either. He began to sniff, feeling his fenders heat up from embarrassment when he felt tears welling up in his eyes, and squeezed them tightly shut. At that moment, for once he was glad Mater and Sally weren't around to see him in such a pitiful, vulnerable state. He didn't want to ruin the image they had of the brave, heroic Lightning McQueen they all knew and loved.

As soon as the tears had stopped flowing, he opened his eyes again, and looked around.

He didn't recognize the place, but it looked familiar, as if he had been here before, a long time ago, and probably had. He was well-traveled. His former career as a Seven-time Piston Cup champion had took him far and wide. He had competed in many races all around the world. Only thing was, there would have been no reason for him to visit this place; it was a dump, and the old Lightning McQueen wouldn't have went anywhere near it. He wouldn't have thought it worth his time. If he had come across this place during one of his travels, he couldn't remember it, and he didn't think he would've wanted to even if he could. The old forest looked like something out of a nightmare he might've had a long time ago, but he had to find Mater. He would've done the same for him. Lightning just knew it.

More determined now than ever to find his friend, he pulled himself together. "Where are you?" He scanned his weary gaze across the deserted wilderness surrounding them, and shuddered, seeing the deep, treacherous, maze-like forest seemingly stretching out for miles before him. Thinking Mater might've gotten lost in there, Lightning gathered up what little courage he had left, and slowly drove into the forest.

He didn't get far before he wanted to turn around and go back. It didn't take him long to discover that the forest was filled with nothing

but...cars, and not just one or two scattered here and there, but a sea of old, dilapidated cars, stretching endlessly toward the horizon, which Lightning couldn't see anymore because of all of the tall, scraggly-like trees stretching far above the mountains he knew had to lay just beyond the forest.

He gasped in horror, his eyes widening in fright, realizing at once what this place was.

It was a car graveyard. He had never seen one before but he knew what they were. He had heard cars, espically old cars like the Legends, talk about them with fear and great trapidition in their voices. This was the one place where no car, or any other vechile for that matter, wanted to end up. It was considered to be the end of the road for most vechiles. Cars who, for whatever reason, managed to get themselves lost in one of these graveyards never came back out again. According to some old legends, there were a few who did, but the ones who came back were never the same. Cars who had been there at the time to witness the return of some of these vechiles who were lucky enough (or unfortunate enough, depending on how you looked at it) to come back out of the forest alive and were still around today (they weren't many of them left these days, and the ones who did remain were slowly rusting away), said they always came back an empty shell of their former selves, and had lost their willpower and spirit to live. No one knew what caused this vegetable state in the cars who came back from the forest. Some said they had seen something so horrible, so tramatuazing, it had sent them into a state of paralyzing shock at the very sight of it, which led many to believe that their comatose-like stasis was brought about by coming across some kind of malicious, wrathful, supernatural spirit which meant them great harm. No one knew, and to this day, it remained a highly debated topic among scientist and doctor cars alike.

Lightining shuddered and gulped, bound and determined not to let himself succumb to the same grim fate of the other lost cars, which were also called "Graveyard cars" by some, and he wasn't about to become one of them. "I'm getting out of here," he said, muttering the words softly under his breath, and slowly turned to leave, crying out in shock when one of the spindly, craggy trees stretched its limbs

out toward him, their claw-like branches groping at his body, as if they were trying desperately to pull him into their lonely world. They even seem to be calling his name.

"Lightning…"

"Come to us…"

"We miss you…"

It look Lightning a moment to realize that the voices who were speaking belonged to Sally, Mater, and Doc.

He gasped in horror, knowing the voices couldn't belong to either of his friends. Mater and Sally weren't dead. He had only left them behind, only Doc had died, and that had been several years ago. He would never see them again. A part of him, however, a reckless, desperate part of him, still hoped it was them, and he found himself driving toward the voices despite the overwhelming urge he had to drive away from him, his instincts telling him that whatever dark force had disguised itself as his friends and tempted him with them couldn't be friendly and mean him well. Whatever this was, it was a malevolent, vengeful spirit, and he had a feeling it wasn't the Ghost Light Mater had so feared back in Radiator Springs. No, whatever this was, it was far worse, and much more powerful. Maybe it was the same spirit that had frightened all of the cars who had somehow managed to escape this place alive, leaving them in a state of shock.

All of his fears and suspicions were forgotten for a moment, however, when he managed to pull himself together long enough to squint his eyes in order to see Mater, Sally, and Doc through his rapidly fading, blurry vision, and realized they were all smiling and waving at him, beckoning him to come join them with their tires. He almost hadn't seen them. They were almost hidden, lost in the mass grave of cars, but once he had been able to make them out, there was no mistaking them. He would recognize his friends anywhere.

"Mater! Sally!" He started to call out their names, and began to drive toward them, when something stopped him in his tracks. He looked down, groaning when he saw the thick tree root lodged around his front tires, blocking his path and preventing him from going anywhere.

"That's quiet far enough, Lightning McQueen," a new voice said, and Lightning knew it couldn't belong to either Lightning, Sally, or Doc.

"Storm," Lightning said, recognizing the voice of his nemesis at once. He would know that smooth, silky baritone anywhere. "What are you doing here-" He was cut off by another tree root, only this one had shot up his grill and into his mouth, silencing him.

Storm chuckled. "I'm not," he said, and Lightning felt his body go limp, feeling more tree roots wrapping themselves around him, crushing his entire frame. "This is all in your head, Lightning McQueen." Judging by the gleeful sound of laughter in his voice, Lightning could tell that Hicks, or whatever this supernatural force was masquerading as Hicks, was taking great enjoyment in tormenting him. "This is going to be your grave, for the rest of your pitiful, meaningless life."

Having never felt so helpless before in his life, Lightning surrendered to his fate, not having much choice in the matter, and felt a bottomless void of never-ending darkness closing in on him.

When night approached and the sun started to set behind the hills overshadowing Radiator Springs and Sally still hadn't seen any sign of Lightning or Mater, she began to get a little worried. She thought about going off to look for them herself, but knew it was too late now for her to go off wondering on her own, and that it would only cause the others further worry if she wondered off and got lost, too.

Sally sighed, feeling hopeless, as if all hope was lost, but not seeing much else of a choice, and, with great relectuance, surrendered herself to sleep at last.

 

Sally woke up the next morning to the sound of Mater shouting, and when she managed to force her tired, heavy eyes open at last, she saw him driving toward her cone at his top speed, which wasn't fast at all, Mater being as old and rusty as he was, but it was fast for him.

"MISS SALLY! MISS SALLY!"

"What?" Sally asked, annoyed Mater had disturbed from her sleep, and drove out of her cone to meet him. "What's wrong?" Still blinking the sleep out her eyes, she looked around, knowing at once what was troubling Mater. Lightning wasn't at his side, and was nowhere else to be seen. "Where's Lightning?"

"That's why I came, Miss. Sally!" Mater wailed, and drove up to her, great big puddle of tears spilling out of his eyes. "I can't find him!" He was flat-out bawling by this point, and his frame began to shake with the force of his sobs. "We was drivin' down the road, and the next thing I knew, one minute he was behind me, and the next minute, he was gone!" He frantically shook his hood in frustration. "I don't know where he went, but I'm afraid somethin' bad's happen to him!"

"All right, all right, just calm down," Sally said, she winced, hearing how lame the words sounded, even to her, knowing she was trying to reassure herself as much as she was him. "Take it easy." She started to drive away from the cone, and nudged him gently on the fender with one of her tires as she drove by him. "We'll go get Sheriff." She gave him a strong, determined look, displaying confidence and a strong-will she really didn't feel like she had, but she had to put on a brave face, both for her and Mater's sakes. "He'll know what to do, and he'll find Lightning, I'm sure of it."

"Yer right Miss. Sally," Mater said, furiously blinking the tears out of her eyes, and turned to follow her. "I shouldn't have gotten all silly on ya like that."

"No, that's okay," Sally said, wishing she felt as brave and strong as she sounded. "I think I got a little silly too when I shouldn't have."

"Naw, I don't think ya did," Mater said, shaking his hood. "I know you love Lightning, and that makes it okay."

"Aw, thank you Mater," Sally said, touched by what Mater had said. "I'm glad you understand."

"It was no problem, Miss. Sally," Mater said, giving her a reassuring smile. "Anything to help a friend."

Sally smiled at him, grateful to have a royal friend like Mater always by her side.

They spent the rest of the drive in silence, and drove for a few more minutes until they found Sheriff sitting parked outside of the old Radiator Springs courthouse. "Hello, Sheriff, "she said, driving up to him with caution, knowing Sheriff could be quite irritable if he was disturbed from his sleep. "I'm afraid I have a problem."

Having been lost in a deep, heavy sleep when they had arrived, Sherriff sputtered awake, his heavy-lidded eyelids fluttering open, and he swerved around to glare at her. "What in tarnation-" he began, but stopped, seeing the frightened look on her grill, and his hardened expression softened. "Why, what's wrong, Miss. Sally?"

Sally was trying not to panic but she could already feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. "Sheriff, it's Mater," she said, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. "He finally came back this morning, but Lightning wasn't with him." She felt tears began to well up in her eyes and run down her windshield, blurring her vision. "I'm afraid something's terrible happened to him."

"Don't you worry, Miss. Sally, he can't be far," Sheriff said, giving her a kind, gentle smile, and turned to drive away, flipping on his sirens. "I'll go look for him, and if I can't find him by dark, I'll call out a search party."

"Sounds like a plan," Sally said, and winced from the blaring wail of the sirens, watching him drive away, hoping he had better luck than she had finding her husband.

Sally was dismayed when Sheriff came back, hours later, out of breath and exhausted, looking as if all hope was lost. "I'm sorry, Sally, but I still have't seen any signs of him," he said, and lowered his eyes, staring down at his hood, unable to meet Sally in the eye. "This is just a suggestion, and keep in mind it's only a suggestion, because I really hope he didn't end up there, but we could try checking the old graveyard just outside of town. That's where a lot of old, lost cars end up -"

"NO!" Sally shouted in protest, and her eyes widened in surprised, shocked by how fast and violent she had reacted to Sheriff's dark proposal. "He can't be there." She winced, embarrassed to hear her voice crack. "He just can't." She suddenly felt very small, very vulnerable, not to mention very lost and alone. "It's not his time, yet."

Sheriff forced himself to look up at her, a grave darkness falling across his grill. "I hate to say it Sally, but it's a possibility," he said, and she saw his body go tense, bracing himself, no doubt, in anticipation for another explosive outburst from her. "It doesn't matter if he's ready or not. Cars get lost there all the time, whether they like it or not, and I think you know it, too, you just don't want to admit it."

Sally gave Sheriff a hurt look, and looked away, driving off.

"Sally, wait-" Sheriff made a feeble, weak protest, but Sally was already so far gone by the time he had managed to get it out, she hadn't heard him.

 

It was all over the news the next morning.

Nobody could believe it. No one wanted to believe it.

Lightning McQueen had vanished, and without a trace, it seemed, and everybody was disheartened by the news, especially Buster Miles.

Lightning McQueen had been his hero. He had looked up to him ever since his father had allowed him to watch TV. He had been the one car who had made him want to be a mechanic. He had dreamed of becoming of one in the hopes of becoming a member of his pit crew. Now, he had no one to look up to, no one to inspire him in the field of racing. He was going to have to find another way to put his mechanical skills to use, or another profession all together. He sighed and stared down at his hood, suddenly feeling very depressed.

"Hey, why the long face, Buster?"

Buster looked up with his hood with great reluctance, not feeling like talking to anybody at the moment, but not wanting to seem rude, either. He saw the owner of the voice had been Alex Hotrod, one of his closest and oldest best friends at the Rust-Eze Training Center. "I'm just bummed that Lightning McQueen went missing, is all," he said, and tried to smile, to let him know that he would be all right, but he couldn't quite manage it.

"Oh, yeah, that is a bummer," Alex said, driving up to him. "I know how much you looked up to him." His grave mood and deposition vanished, and he suddenly became oddly cheerful. "I got something that will cheer you up, though."

"What?" Buster asked, raising a skeptical eyelid at him, starting to become a little suspicious of him, and wondered how he could be so happy when Lightning McQueen was declared missing, possibly dead, and he was obviously so down in the dumps about it.

"We just heard about this great place," Alex said, a wide, mischevious grin crossing his grill.

"What kind of place?" Buster asked, intrigued, curious despite himself.

"You know one of those old cars graveyards you hear all of the adults going on about?" Alex asked, his voice rising in his excitement. "It's one of those, and it's supposed to have all kinds of old parts." He lowered his voice to a whisper, and inched a little closer to Buster so he could hear him better, but he didn't know why Alex was being so secretive. There was no one around. He wondered what had him so spooked. "I just know how much you wanted to be a mechanic and everything, and I just thought you would be interested in the old place. Its several hours away from here, just miles outside of Radiator Springs, and I know how much you've wanted to go there."

"Yeah," Buster said, leaning forward in anticipation.

"Only thing is, there's a catch," Alex said, and paused for effect, smiling at the bewildered expression that must've been on Buster's grill.

"What kind of catch?" Buster asked, and held his breath. The suspense was killing him.

"Some say there's an evil spirit there, that lures cars to their graves," Alex said, shuddering, and a look of fear suddenly fell across his grill. Buster was surprised to see he was scared. He had never seen Alex scared before, and he never thought he would. He never wanted to see him scared again, either. The look didn't suit him. Alex was the friendly outgoing, jokester type of the group, and always made everybody laugh. He was even voted class clown one year, and he was one of the most popular kid cars in the school. "They say it is so lonely and desperate for other company, it will, and can, disguise itself as your friends, loved ones, and even your enemies, to imprison you in its deadly clutches for all eternity. They call it…The Engine Reaper."

"The Engine Reaper," Buster said, whispering the name under his breath, his eyes widening in both horror and awe. Just by feeling the name on his lips, he knew it inspired fear and dread in even the bravest of cars.

"Don't say it's name too much, though," Alex said, his eyes darting around, still keeping a look out for any unwanted company. "It's supposed to be bad luck, and most cars consider it an ill omen. Some even say if you speak its name too much, it'll come for you!"

Buster jumped and yelped, started, feeling as if The Engine Reaper was right there, breathing down on him.

Alex laughed. "Don't be scared," he said, and Buster wanted to point out very badly, that he had been scared only moments ago, but he didn't want to appear rude. "I think you'll enjoy it, and who knows." He winked at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You might even find that Lightning McQueen of yours."

"Yeah, maybe," Buster said, trying not to get too excited about it, not wanting to get his hopes up. He knew the chances of them finding McQueen were slim. He was more than likely already dead by now. "When do you think would be a good time to leave?"

"First light," Alex said, and started to turn, beginning to drive off. "You got to be there before dark." He chuckled as he drove away.

"They say that's when the Engine Reaper likes to stir."

"Hey, don't say it's name!" Buster shouted after him, and followed him down the hall, more than a little scared now, but at the same time, excited to see what tomorrow's next adventure would bring, and what he would find.

The End


End file.
